Positive Steps in North Korea's Disarmament

It is the first time in five years that the UN’s nuclear monitor team is visiting North Korea. The four-member team of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday with the intention of discussing ways to shut down the contested nuclear facility at Yongbyon.

The plutonium-producing reactor is a significant part of North Korea's nuclear development programme, which the international community wants to curb.

Pyongyang’s failure to close down the country's sole operating nuclear reactor so far has been of the major stumbling blocks in disarmament talks between the United States and North Korea.

Optimism

Before leaving for Pyongyang, the head of the IAEA team, Olli Heinonen, said he was not sure whether the team would get access to the Yongbyon reactor, but he expressed optimism that the North would soon begin to disarm.

A view shared by the chief US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill, who visited Pyongyang last week: "We expect Yongbyon to be shut down after there is an agreement between the DPRK and the IAEA on how to monitor this shutdown. We expect this to take place within, probably, three weeks. I don't want to be pinned down on precisely the day, but probably in that timeframe."

North Korea was supposed to have shut down the reactor by mid-April under a deal agreed in February this year. In return, it was agreed the state would receive badly-needed energy aid and diplomatic concessions.

End of banking dispute

However, the implementation of the deal was hindered by a financial dispute between the US and North Korea over funds frozen in a Macau bank because of reported money-laundering.

It was only after the US released the money last week that North Korea agreed to invite the monitors and to give negotiations another chance.

Long process

For Patrick Köllner, a German expert on North Korean affairs, this is just the beginning of the long process: "It's a good sign that now the money problem has been resolved and we can move to the next stage, which is the freezing of the reactor."

"But it is just the first step and especially in view of the still deeply prevailing animosity and distrust between the US and North Korea, this could be a lengthy and complicated process," Köllner added.

Meanwhile, neighbouring South Korea welcomed the latest developments. According to the South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-Joung, the decision to send 400,000 tonnes of rice this week was made when it became clear Pyongyang was taking positive steps towards denuclearisation. The aid was suspended last July after Pyongyang’s tested several long-range missiles.